Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Nekketsu BO-SO TV - A Story Of A Bike Racer And His Curry

"Curry does not necessarily have to be spicy"

Saman Pereira

Seynaani Curry Restaurant

I made my third-time appearance in the Nekketsu BO-SO TV a fortnight ago. This time I got a new partner to join me in the show. Yup, you can call me a playboy since I change partner every month lol! Anyway, Bado-chan is one of the twenty Chiba Kun Ambassadors this year and she hails from Mongolia.

When I told my aunt about this, her first response was, "Ohhh, this girls must be a friend of Altantuyaa!" haha wtf!

Her full name is Munkhtsetseg Batchuluun. I don't think anyone is able to pronounce it correctly.

This is Calvin. No prize for anyone who can pronounce my name correctly lol!

The first corner of the day was the "Nekketsu BO-SO Person" (熱血BO-SO人), in which it introduces wonderful individuals coming from Chiba Prefecture. This week, it was Mr Saman Pereira, who hails from Indiana in US and happily married to a Sinhalese wife. Although he now owns a curry restaurant in a humble town of Sanmu in Chiba, there is a story behind his journey to Japan.

Prior to opening a restaurant, he was a bike racer who had competed in various GP races in Japan and also in international level. Doing what he loves, he also managed to win races and gain lots of medals along the way. Unfortunately, during one of the races, he met with an accident and the injury was too serious for him to return to the track again.

Introducing Mr Saman Pereira (サマンペレラ), the owner of Seynaani Curry Restaurant in Sanmu City (山武市) in Chiba Prefecture. I feel he should have been a policeman so that he can simply saman people lol!

This is the little restaurant that he currently owns.

Working in his kitchen. He has previously worked as a chef in prestigious hotels such as the Prince Okura Hotel in Tokyo.

The fatal accident caused him to be hospitalised and it was only after several months that he managed to walk after undergoing an orthopedic surgery on his leg in Chiba. That was what that made him fall in love with the place instantly and he decided to settle down there after he'd recovered. The rest, like they say, is history.

He now owns a curry restaurant - Seynaani in Sanmu City in the northeast of Chiba Prefecture. However, since the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, his restaurant suffered some damages and ever since then, the number of customers has decreased dramatically.

Kuro-chan went to visit his restaurant to find out more about Saman and his curry story.

A proud man standing alongside his trophies and bike in his racing days.

He is now currently building a bigger restaurant and it is scheduled to be completed next year.

We were super lucky to be able to try on Mr Saman's curry in the studio. I am not exaggerating but believe me, for all the curry that I have tasted in various Indian, Pakistan, Turkish, etc restaurant here in Japan, this is by far, one of the best, if not the best.

Like he has mentioned to us, each and every spices used in his curry is carefully handpicked. That is probably the reason why his curry taste so much like a home-cooked curry, where you get to enjoy the fragrance of the spices inside the curry. The spiciness is also well-adjusted, and it was just alright; not too spicy nor the otherwise.

A plate of lunch set which comes with salad is only 600yen!

To those of you who are interested to try on this curry restaurant, here are the information.

The next segment was called the No Apology Sumimasen (Noapo-de sumimasen, ノーアポでスミマセン), where the hosts will make spontaneous visits to random restaurants and shops without any pre-arrangements. Most of the time, they will be welcomed, but sometimes, if they are unlucky, the shop owner might chases them away lol!

This time, they paid a visit to Namiki Ice Workshop & Hashimoto Snacks Store (ナミキアイス工房・橋本菓子舗), also in Sanmu, Chiba.

The cute little hut where the icre cream workshop is located.

There are more than ten flavours produced every single day here!

Milk flavour ice cream for 200 yen each.

The home-made ice cream is rich and concentrated which enhances the milk flavour in the ice cream.

Here are the information about Namiki Ice Workshop.

The next food brought to the studio was some cake called the "Okashi tofu" (お菓子とうふ). Although it is called tofu, it does not taste or look like tofu at all. I have no idea why they named it with such name. Perhaps it is to give the cake a catchy name to attract people's attention.

Anyway, it is actually a soft cake (something like chiffon cake) and in between, they put in strawberry-flavoured red bean paste and sesame-flavoured red bean paste. The two Chiba Kun Ambassadors got the chance to try this interesting cake and I guess it is not bad. I prefer the strawberry one compared to the sesame tofu.

Strawberry (left) and sesame (right) tofu by Hashimoto Snacks Store.

Funny reaction by the two of us after taking a bite on the tofu lol!

Mr Happa Ikki getting our feedback after we tasted the tofu.

And finally, the information you need if you wanna get this interesting tofu.

The final segment was the Nekketsu BO-SO Spot (熱血BO-SOスポット). This week, the Takeuchi Siblings (竹内兄弟) visited a hidden gem in the city of Choshi. The location they went was a unique camera museum.

This museum was started by the predecessors of Yamaguchi Confectionery (山口製菓), who had a collection of cameras from various generations. They then used the building of the factory to turn it into a camera museum and it remains there until today.